Encyclopedia of Life will catalog all living organisms on Earth

Washington, DC. Prominent scientists around the World announced the launch of an epic effort to catalog the 1.8 million known species of plants, animals, and other forms of life on our planet, the Encyclopedia of Life. This unprecedented effort utilizes the significant advances in internet technologies to make the vast body of information and multi-media resources about life on Earth available to scientists, students, and the general public online. Biologist E.O. Wilson, who originally conceived this project summarized the project: “Imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth, available everywhere by single access on command.”

“The Encyclopedia of Life will provide valuable biodiversity and conservation information to anyone, anywhere, at any time,” said Dr. James Edwards, the Executive Director of the Encyclopedia of Life. “Through collaboration, we all can increase our appreciation of the immense variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity. The Encyclopedia of Life will ultimately make high-quality, well-organized information available on an unprecedented level. Even five years ago, we could not create such a resource, but advances in technology for searching, annotating, and visualizing information now permit us, indeed mandate us to build the Encyclopedia of Life.”

The project has brought together a variety of distinguished organizations and eminent scientists as partners. The American Institute of Biological Sciences is a member of the EOL Institutional Council, which includes The American Museum of Natural History and the World Conservation Union among its council members.